Early auditory deficits in schizophrenia

描述(申请人提供)：认知功能障碍是精神分裂症的标志。然而，基本感觉加工的潜在缺陷是导致高阶加工缺陷的一个因素。在听觉系统中，有证据表明存在功能上不同的腹侧和背侧通路，分别管理声音对象识别(‘What’)和声音定位(‘Where’)。事件相关电位被称为失配负性(MMN)，已被用于索引声音对象识别。当一个不正常的音调被插入一系列标准音调时，它在健康的受试者中被强烈地激发出来。在精神分裂症患者中，MMN显著减弱，为早期听觉处理缺陷提供了强有力的证据，即“什么”通路损伤。据作者所知，目前还没有研究表明精神分裂症的“什么”途径和“哪里”途径都存在缺陷。在这项拟议的研究中，精神分裂症患者的腹侧和背侧通路的完整性将通过行为和电生理任务进行评估。对于背部路径，或“哪里”路径，将进行声音定位实验。对于腹侧路径，我们将进行声音对象识别实验。随着我们对精神分裂症听觉系统缺陷的具体性质的了解增加，诊断、治疗和对疾病的病因学理解的途径也将增加。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cognitive dysfunction is a hallmark of schizophrenia. However, underlying deficits in basic sensory processing are a contributing factor to higher order processing deficits. In the auditory system, there is evidence for functionally distinct ventral and dorsal pathways, governing sound object recognition ('what') and sound localization ('where'), respectively. The event-related potential known as mismatch negativity (MMN) has been used to index sound object recognition. It is robustly elicited in healthy subjects when a deviant tone is interjected in a train of standard tones. In schizophrenia, the MMN is significantly attenuated, providing strong evidence for deficits in early auditory processing, namely, 'what' pathway impairment. To this author's knowledge, no research has yet shown deficits in both the 'what' and 'where' pathways in schizophrenia. In the proposed study, integrity of the ventral and dorsal pathways in schizophrenia patients will be assessed through behavioral and electrophysiological tasks. For the dorsal, or 'where' pathway, a sound localization experiment will be conducted. For the ventral, or 'what' pathway, we will conduct a sound object recognition experiment. As our understanding of the specific nature of auditory system deficits in schizophrenia increases, so will avenues for diagnosis, treatment, and etiological understanding of the illness.